La Paz County Park Spotlight Highlights Boats, Golf, Local Events

Why the park spotlight matters

A short 12News feature on La Paz County Park is more than a travel tease. It highlights a county asset that has to do three jobs at once: serve Parker-area residents, draw visitor spending along Highway 95, and generate enough income to help support all La Paz County parks.

That matters because La Paz County Park is not a tax-based park. The La Paz County Parks Dept. says the site relies on its own income to help support the full park system, which makes every boat rental, campsite stay, golf outing and event reservation part of the financial equation.

What the segment says about Parker’s image

The 12News piece, “Park, Play and Par at La Paz County Park,” aired at 4:18 p.m. PDT on April 22, 2026, and framed Parker the way the county wants more people to see it: not just as a river town, but as a recreation hub. The segment’s focus on renting a boat, playing golf and attending local events captures a broader use of the Colorado River corridor, where leisure, tourism and day-to-day public access overlap.

That framing is important for La Paz County because visitor traffic does not stop at the park gate. When a destination gets airtime, the ripple effect can reach hotels, restaurants, marina activity and other service businesses that depend on people deciding to spend a few more hours, or a full weekend, in Parker. In a county where government and utility stories often dominate the news cycle, a recreation feature is also a reminder that public assets can shape the local economy as much as they shape the skyline.

How to use La Paz County Park this weekend

La Paz County Park sits 8 miles north of Parker on Highway 95 along the Colorado River. The park advertises 114 RV sites with water, power and cable TV, and it describes itself as a "desert playground." That mix makes it useful for more than one kind of trip, whether you are coming for an overnight stay, a quick day on the water or a larger family gathering.

If you are heading out, these are the basics that matter most:

• Boat access and river recreation are central to the park’s appeal, which is why the 12News segment leaned so heavily on the boating angle.

• Golf remains part of the park system’s draw, with Centennial/Greasewood listing a junior golf rate for 9 holes.

• The Don T. Pavilion is available year-round, holds up to 300 people and includes a river view and full kitchen, making it one of the park’s most practical event spaces.

• RV travelers have 114 sites to choose from, which is a meaningful number for a county park in a river corridor where weekends can fill quickly.

• Special-event periods, including Memorial Day, the Annual Parker Tube Float, July 4 weekend and Labor Day, can carry additional entry fees, so timing matters if you want to avoid surprise costs.

Events are part of the park’s business model

The park is not just scenery. It is also part of the county’s operating model, and the event calendar shows that clearly. The Parker Regional Chamber of Commerce & Tourism calendar includes recreation, sports and community events in April and May 2026, including the 2nd Annual Roadrunner Regatta. That kind of scheduling suggests Parker’s spring season is built around repeat activity, not one-off tourism bursts.

The Parker Tube Float is especially important to that picture. Organizers describe it as creating a "fourth" summer holiday weekend, with major economic impact for the Town of Parker, La Paz County, area businesses and workers in tourism-related jobs. That is the clearest example of how recreation coverage can translate into real local stakes: when the river fills up, the surrounding economy tends to feel it too.

For county leaders, that raises a practical question that reaches beyond any single television feature. If the park system depends on its own income, then events are not just celebrations. They are revenue days that help keep facilities open and visible. For residents, that means the value of the park is measured not only in weekend fun, but in whether the system remains usable, maintained and affordable.

Why this matters to Parker’s identity

Parker has long been tied to the river and to county government. The Town of Parker incorporated in 1948, and it became the La Paz County seat on January 1, 1983. That history helps explain why a recreation story can matter so much here: the town has always balanced civic identity with river access, and La Paz County Park sits right where those two identities meet.

The 12News spotlight reinforces that balance. It places La Paz County Park in the public eye as a shared asset, one that serves both locals looking for an accessible outing and visitors looking for a destination. In a county where the park system has to help pay its own way, that visibility is not cosmetic. It is part of the public value.

The question for La Paz County is straightforward: when people come to Parker to boat, golf and attend events, does that activity keep flowing back into better access for the people who live here? At La Paz County Park, that is the measure that will matter long after the camera leaves the river.